Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), "Sgt. Joseph E. Muller" [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specification line and first two paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Sgt. Joseph E. Muller was laid down under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 2485) as Check Knot on 30 December 1944 by the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corp., Savannah, Ga.; launched 17 February 1945, sponsored by Mrs. D.R. Williams; delivered to the Maritime Commission's Shipping Administration 9 June 1945 for operation by the Waterman SS Co. Specification line: APC-118, displacement 6,090 tons (full load), length 338'9", beam 50'4", draft 21', speed 11.5 knots, complement 107, class Jonah E. Kelley, Maritime Commission type C1-M-AV1.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Limitations
- Establishes construction identity and the APC-118 hull symbol. Note: the live DANFS page body text repeatedly renders the ship's name as "Sgt. Joseph E. Mutter" (an apparent OCR/transcription scanno carried from the printed DANFS volume) even though the page title, specification line, and namesake citation correctly read "Muller" throughout; treated here as the same ship, not a naming conflict. No asbestos, materials, or condition information in this source; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-01
-
[2]Naval History and Heritage Command, DANFS, "Sgt. Joseph E. Muller" (namesake citation, reproducing the Medal of Honor citation) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, namesake/Medal of Honor citation paragraph
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Sgt. Joseph E. Muller, Company B, 305th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division, was killed in action 16 May 1945 near Ishimmi, Okinawa. On 15 May, when his platoon was halted by heavy enemy fire, he directed his men to covering positions and, with grenades, drove the enemy into the open where his squad engaged them, then prevented enemy survivors from remanning a machine gun. Before dawn on 16 May, during a Japanese counterattack, he crawled forward under fire to launch a one-man grenade-and-rifle attack, then returned to his three-man foxhole; when a lone enemy soldier who had feigned death threw a grenade into the foxhole, Sgt. Muller threw himself over it, absorbing the blast and saving his two companions. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- Namesake biography only; establishes why the ship was so named, not a shipboard material or condition fact. No asbestos content; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-02
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[3]Naval History and Heritage Command, DANFS, "Sgt. Joseph E. Muller" [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, final two paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- In August 1962 Sgt. Joseph E. Muller was designated for activation, conversion to a research support ship, and redelivery to the Navy. On 1 October 1962 reactivation and conversion began at the Maryland Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Baltimore; on 30 October 1962 she was reinstated on the Navy list as the miscellaneous auxiliary (AG) USNS Sgt. Joseph E. Muller (T-AG-171). A week later the ship was towed to New Orleans for further alterations, and in April 1963 she arrived at Port Everglades, Florida, where she took up duties as a special project ship for oceanographic research operations. On 16 September 1969 the ship was again declared surplus, and on 13 November she was transferred back to the NDRF for berthing in the James River; her name was struck from the Navy list the same date.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1962-1969
- Limitations
- Establishes the T-AG-171 reactivation, conversion yard, redesignation date, and 1969 disposition. DANFS characterizes the ship's 1963-1969 duties only as "a special project ship for oceanographic research operations" — this is itself the Cold War-era public cover description for a SIGINT mission; see ev-05 for the corroborating correction. No asbestos, materials, or condition information here; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-04
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[4]Charles L. Cragin, "TOP SECRET UMBRA: A Sailor's Recollections of USNS MULLER (T-AG-171)" (2020), citing National Security Agency, "A Review of the Technical Research Ship Program 1961-1969" (prepared by Julie Alger, May 1970, declassified in part) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Full document, pp. 1-11 (footnotes cite "The Review" by page/paragraph throughout)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A named, identifiable participant account by Charles L. Cragin (who served aboard T-AG-171 from April 1963 to June 1964, and later served as a Senate-confirmed Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals and as Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness) documents, citing a declassified 1970 National Security Agency program history ("A Review of the Technical Research Ship Program 1961-1969," prepared by Julie Alger, NSA, May 1970, portions declassified from TOP SECRET UMBRA), that T-AG-171 was one of three MSTS-operated Miscellaneous Auxiliary (AG) "technical research ships" of the period 1961-1969 conducting dedicated seaborne SIGINT collection for the National Security Agency and Naval Security Group. The account states the conversion (begun August 1962) cost $1,891,000; the ship carried an 11-officer/48-enlisted civilian MSTS crew under Master William F. O'Reilly plus an embarked military "Research Operations Detachment" of approximately 4 officers and 90 enlisted; the ship's first deployment (April 1963-April 1964) held station off Cuba, operating outside Cuba's claimed 6-mile territorial sea on a track parallel to the Havana coastline; and the ship maintained an operating tempo of roughly 25 days at sea followed by 5 days in its home port of Port Everglades, Florida. The account explicitly identifies the NHHC page's "oceanographic research" framing as the ship's operational cover story, still presented uncorrected on the official DANFS page as of the account's 2020 writing.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1962-1969 (document written 2020, describing 1962-1969 events)
- Population
- MSTS civilian crew and embarked Navy/Army SIGINT detachment, T-AG-171, 1963-1964
- Limitations
- Self-published personal memoir by a named, identifiable, and independently verifiable author (his Senate-confirmed federal appointments are a matter of public record), quoting a declassified government document by page and paragraph — but the underlying NSA "Review" document itself could not be independently located or viewed for this record, so its quoted content is verified only to the extent the memoir's internal citations are taken at face value. This is a private crew-history website, not an NHHC/NARA-hosted record. Corroborates and corrects the public mission characterization only; contains no statement about asbestos, insulation, or shipboard materials, and is not used for any asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-05
-
[5]U.S. Maritime Administration, ShipHistory database, CHECK KNOT (Detail 7300) and SGT. JOSEPH E. MULLER (T-AG-171) (Detail 4526) [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- ShipHistory Detail 4526 (Sgt. Joseph E. Muller) and Detail 7300 (Check Knot, prior name record)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MARAD ShipHistory database records for CHECK KNOT / SGT. JOSEPH E. MULLER (T-AG-171), U.S. Official No. 247488: built 1945 by Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation; MARAD type C1-M-AV1, General Cargo (Break Bulk); length 320 ft, beam 50 ft, 2,123 net tons / 3,805 gross tons. Disposition recorded as "Sold - NTU" (not-to-use) with a 1972-10-03 sale date noted in the record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1945-1972
- Limitations
- Confirms official number, builder, type, dimensions, and final 1972 sale disposition, corroborating DANFS's 1969 NDRF transfer as the last step before sale. The database's milestone/custody table for this hull is sparse (largely a single disposition entry) and gives no scrapping yard, location, or buyer name — exact final physical fate beyond the sale is not established. Contains no asbestos, materials, or condition information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-06
-
[6]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, "Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding," American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II — the program and era under which this Maritime Commission C1-M-AV1 hull was built (laid down December 1944, delivered June 1945) — and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization across U.S. shipyards building vessels of many types, not limited to any single hull design.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article published 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class/era context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel, its builder, or its C1-M-AV1 type specifically, and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. This hull had a diesel propulsion plant, not a steam boiler plant; no steam-plant lagging claim is made from this source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-07
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 search (ship name and hull-number variants, opinion and docket/RECAP types); DANFS; MARAD ShipHistory [other_primary]
- Locator
- See search_ledger sl-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-04 through -09 for individual query results
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos litigation naming this hull (as Check Knot, Sgt. Joseph E. Muller, APC-118, T-APC-118, AG-171, or T-AG-171) was found in DANFS, MARAD's ShipHistory record, or CourtListener. Completed CourtListener searches: exact ship name (opinion: 0 results; docket: 1 result, a name collision — see below), "T-AG-171" (opinion: 0 results), "AG-171" (docket: 19 dockets matched but the bare number is a high-collision token unrelated to this ship, spot-checked and not pursued further), and "APC-118" (opinion: 0 results). The one docket hit under the exact ship name was EPSTEIN v. GEREN (D.D.C. 1:07-cv-00688, filed 2007), an Administrative Procedure Act challenge to an Army personnel-evaluation decision that happens to include a name match to "Muller" within a 256-page administrative-record attachment (Army Regs 600-20/623-105); classified as a name collision, not a case naming or concerning this vessel, and not asbestos-related. "APC-118" docket and "T-APC-118" opinion/docket searches were paced out by the fleet-wide request limiter during this research session and remain open; see search_ledger for queries completed and those left pending.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1945-2026 (search window)
- Limitations
- Records an honest negative result rather than manufacturing a claim. Five of seven planned CourtListener queries completed cleanly (or with only a name collision); "APC-118" docket and "T-APC-118" opinion/docket searches could not be completed before the fleet-wide CourtListener pacing limit was reached and are logged as pending, not as additional confirmed negatives. This does not establish that no asbestos exposure occurred aboard this hull — only that no qualifying public record was located by the searches completed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-08
-
[8]Naval History and Heritage Command, DANFS, "Sgt. Joseph E. Muller" [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, paragraphs 2-3
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Returned to the Maritime Commission and transferred to the War Department for operation by the Army's transportation service after World War II, the ship was renamed Sgt. Joseph E. Muller and operated in support of occupation forces in Japan and Korea. In late 1949 the Navy-operated Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS, now Military Sealift Command) was established, and in July 1950 the ship was transferred to that organization. Through the Korean conflict she continued to shuttle passengers and cargo primarily to Japan and Korea, with occasional runs to Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Philippines, earning nine battle stars. In spring 1955 she sailed to Hawaii for repairs (mid-May) and to New York (late June); initially slated for Arctic resupply missions, she was instead transferred temporarily to the Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF), Hudson River berthing area, in December 1956, and in September 1957 was declared surplus to Navy needs; returned to the Navy the following month and permanently transferred to the NDRF, Hudson River, on 25 October 1957.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1948-1957
- Limitations
- Establishes the Army-to-MSTS-to-NDRF service arc and nine-battle-star Korean War record. DANFS's specification line attributes the hull symbol APC-118 to this entry; MSTS operation from 1950 would carry the "T-" service prefix (T-APC-118) per standard Navy practice, though DANFS body text does not itself spell out "T-APC-118" verbatim. No asbestos, materials, or condition information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-sgt-joseph-e-muller-03